suc. fa. 3 Oct. 1668 (a minor) as 6th Bar. CROMWELL and 3rd earl of Ardglass [I].
First sat 15 May 1675; last sat 23 Mar. 1681
b. 29 Nov. 1653, o. s. of Wingfield Cromwell, 5th Bar. Cromwell, and Mary (d. 1687), da. of Sir William Russell, bt.‡ educ. Christ Church, Oxf. 1668. m. Honora (d. Nov. 1710), da. of Michael Boyle, abp. of Dublin (1663–79) and 2nd w. Mary, da. of Dermod O’Brien, 5th Bar. Inchiquin [I], sis. of Murrough Boyle, Visct. Blessington [I], s.p. d. 11 Apr. 1682.
Associated with: Throwleigh Manor and Ilam, Staffs.; Lecale, Ardglass, co. Down.1
Thomas Cromwell was more generally known by his Irish title as earl of Ardglass rather than as Baron Cromwell. His family background was Anglican, royalist and military. The young earl evidently split his time between England and Ireland for in December 1670 he was among 23 survivors in the wreck of a packet boat off Arklow, co. Wicklow, and on 10 Apr. 1672 he was at Chester awaiting passage to Ireland.2 He survived another shipwreck in March 1675 en route from Dublin to Chester, one account suggesting that the incident had been caused by the ‘drunken earl of Ardglass’ supplying the crew with too much wine.3
Although the date of Ardglass’ marriage is unknown, his alliance with one of the oldest and richest Protestant families in Ireland was significant. He married Honora Boyle, the eldest daughter of the politically influential Michael Boyle, archbishop of Dublin (1663–79), lord chancellor of Ireland (1665–85) and primate of Ireland as archbishop of Armagh (1679–1702). This marriage also linked Ardglass to the Gaelic Irish family of O’Brien. Honora’s uncle Murrough O’Brien, later 6th Baron Inchiquin [I], commanded royalist forces in Ireland after the departure of James Butler, marquess of Ormond [I] (and later duke of Ormond in the Irish and English peerage) in 1650.
As a minor Ardglass was regularly excused attendance in the Lords between 1669 and 1674, as well as on 29 Apr. 1675, which may have been an error. He first took his seat on 15 May 1675, but attended on only two further days that session, just over 7 per cent of the total. He attended seven sittings in the second session of 1675, a little more than 33 per cent of the total. His name appears without a classification on the analysis of lay peers compiled by Anthony Ashley Cooper, earl of Shaftesbury, in 1677–8. In the 1677–8 session he was excused a call of the House on 9 Mar. 1677.
On 29 Jan. 1678 the Lords received a complaint that John Farrington, a prisoner in the King’s Bench prison, had often refused to be examined before commissioners in bankruptcy, alleging a protection signed ‘Ardglass’. Further complaints were made on 31 Jan. of Farrington sheltering behind his protection. As a consequence, on 29 Jan. Ardglass was ordered to attend and the committee for privileges ordered to prepare a declaration, to be presented to the House, for preventing the ill consequences of granting of protections (which seems never to have emerged from committee).4 Two days later Ardglass registered his only recorded proxy with James Compton, 3rd earl of Northampton. It was cancelled when he attended on 6 February. Meanwhile, on 4 Feb. the House was informed that Ardglass had granted a protection to John Milner, who was a clerk employed by one of the corporations of London. On 6 Feb. Ardglass was asked why he had granted protections to Farrington, Milner and John Cooke, when they were not his menial servants and so not capable of the privilege of Parliament. In response, Ardglass said that he was unaware of the relevant order, apologized for transgressing it and promised not to give any protections contrary to it. The committee for privileges was then ordered to produce ‘something fit to be published, declaring the sense and purport of the standing orders … relating to the privilege of Parliament’.
On 25 May 1678 a complaint was made that James Walker, a menial servant of Ardglass’, had been arrested for debt and he was ordered to be released. Rather trickily, one of those behind the arrest was Robert Bate‡, a Member of the Commons, but Ardglass was willing to accept the acknowledgement that Bate and the others were at fault and they were discharged on 30 May, with Ardglass promising that Bate would not lose any of the debt he was owed. He attended only 11 sittings of the resumed session of January–May 1678 before the prorogation on 13 May 1678, 18 per cent of that part of the session. He did record a vote on 4 Apr., that Philip Herbert, 7th earl of Pembroke, was guilty of manslaughter.
Ardglass attended on the third day of the next session, 25 May 1678, and on 14 days in all, some 32 per cent of the total. In the session of October–December 1678, he was present on nine occasions, about 15 per cent of the total. After being absent since 22 Nov., on 16 Dec. 1678 he took the oaths of allegiance and supremacy. Ardglass did not attend the session of 6–13 Mar. 1679. In the session of March–May 1679, he attended on 20 days, 33 per cent of the total, taking the oaths on 19 March. In March–April 1679 Thomas Osborne, earl of Danby, twice seemed unsure as to how to categorize Ardglass when considering how peers would vote in the proceedings against him. On 12 Mar. he was classed as a court lord on a list of absent lords. On 10 May he voted against appointing a joint committee of both Houses to consider the methods of proceeding against the impeached Lords. On 27 May he probably voted for the right of the bishops to stay in the House during capital cases.
Ardglass attended the prorogation of 1 July 1680 and was present on 21 Oct., the opening day of the 1680–1 session, when he took the oaths. He attended on 30 days in all, nearly 52 per cent of the total. On 15 Nov. 1680 he voted in favour of rejecting the exclusion bill on its first reading. On 7 Dec. he voted in favour of the attainder of William Howard, Viscount Stafford. On 17 Mar. 1681 Danby’s pre-sessional forecast had Ardglass in favour of granting him bail, if he attended. Ardglass was present on the opening day of the Oxford Parliament, 21 Mar., when he took the oaths, attending on four days, 57 per cent of the total.
Ardglass died on 11 Apr. 1682 and was buried at Ilam. He was succeeded by his uncle Vere Essex Cromwell, 7th Baron Cromwell. However, his wife continued to extract a jointure from the Irish estates until her death, even receiving a saving clause in an estate act of 1709.5
A.C./S.N.H.